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Lucid Nightmare: The Storm Eye
Heya, it's Darkdragon2670 (aka Dark). I'd love it if I could get feedback (constructive criticism is appreciated!) and please do not edit and/or steal! If you want to edit something, please ask me instead of assuming that I'd say yes. **This fanfiction takes place 100 years after the Scorching and 100 years before the reign of Queen Diamond. Also! This is a FANFICTION, so any comments like, "Oh, that's not the old queen," and blah blah blah will be ignored. This is also the second part of the Lucid Nightmare series, so please read the FIRST PART of Lucid Nightmare. 'Other than that, carry on and enjoy! ' ~PROLOGUE~ Katabatic tried to massage the cramps that had mysteriously formed in her legs. Her six claws brushed against her scales, horribly cold yet still soothing, a nice contrast to the burn on her neck. "Oh my gosh, Katie," her younger brother, Stonecutter, stuck his black snout into her room. "What are you, obsessed with your room, or something?" Katabatic stuck out her tongue at him, fluffing up her back spines defensively. "I wouldn't talk, shrimp cake. At least I'm useful. You're nothing but a pile of scales and wing membranes." Stonecutter looked hurt and Katabatic balked a little at the way his ears were drooping. I shouldn't have said that, ''she thought, and then got up to brush his wing with hers. "What if you die this time?" he asked quietly. "What if you never come back, and I could have saved you? But I didn't? Because I wasn't strong enough... because I'm not as useful as you?" "That's not going to happen, Stonecutter," Katabatic murmured and cupped his small NightWing face in her talons. "I promise." "What if—" he began again, but Katabatic pressed his head against her as she wrapped her wings around him. "I'll come back," she whispered, stroking his head as she twined her tail with his. "Time and time again. Over and over. Then we won't have to say goodbye — we won't ever say goodbye. Ever. And forever." Stonecutter opened his mouth to say more, but Scorpion poked her head into her cave. "Katie, let's go. Anubis told me to tell you that you're not dragon-sitting Lotus and Sandstorm. He said that I would do it for him — apparently Lotus and Sandstorm are much more important than overseeing battle training with Aether and Spindrift. Glow and Bubbledreamer already went to the kingdom of Ardensia to sooth things with their Queen who apparently is trying to behead every green dragon she sees." "Why?" asked Katabatic, baffled. Green was Queen Ombre's favorite color. ''That doesn't make sense. Why would she try to annihilate every green dragon? Well, ''she added after a moment, ''I mean, Scorpion could always be exaggerating... yeah that doesn't sound like her at all. '' "Apparently, it's because she was almost murdered by a green dragon. That was all Bubble could get out of her before Glow panicked and ran." Scorpion shrugged and then seemed to notice Stonecutter. "Oh, hey, Stonecutter. What's up?" The golden SandWing smiled and patted the black dragonet's head. "I should go," she added. "If Anu finds out that I'm not in his cave watching Lotus and Sandstorm, then he's gonna make like a SeaWing and flip out." "You're... leaving?" Stonecutter whimpered when Scorpion had left and was out of earshot. "Don't go, Katie! What if I never see you again? I don't want you to go! You can't!" "I'm sorry, Stonecutter," Katabatic said softly and touched to claws to his head and then turned to leave the cave. "But it's my job." . . . After receiving a slight scare in which she almost murdered Jellyfish, Katabatic had to sit down and recall everything that had happened. And of course now was the perfect time for her IceWing dignity to catch up to her. ''What are you doing? Communicating? With arguably Pyrrhia's weakest tribe? Aurora and Borealis would be so disappointed in you! '' "So, Ombre, huh?" asked Jellyfish, amused at the prospect of the green RainWing queen almost murdered. "Yeah," Katabatic shifted around uncomfortably. The grass seemed too spiky and itchy and whenever she tried to move around, blades of the green vegetation got stuck in the chinks between her scales, a fact that greatly annoyed her. "Also, remind me again, who are the other queens? I still remember Queen Fangtooth — she's my aunt. But, uh, I kinda forgot the others." Katabatic rolled her eyes as Jellyfish grinned sheepishly. "The IceWing queen is Queen Jaeger, the SkyWing queen is Queen Pyrope, the MudWing queen is Queen Parnassia, the SandWing queen is Queen Tumbleweed, the NightWing queen is Queen Savvy." Katabatic recited, though she still felt annoyed about the grass and about Jellyfish's lack of memory. It didn't help that whenever Katabatic brought this up, Jellyfish always ended it with a squeal of "It's not MY fault!" Which it kind of was. Really all Katabatic wanted to do was fly. Fly free and fly far — now that sounded like a good idea, instead of sitting on a pile of itchy plants and running over history with Jellyfish. "Oh, OK, thanks Katabatic." Jellyfish beamed. "So... can I call you Katie? Scorpion calls you Katie." "Yeah, yeah, whatever." Katabatic shrugged, uninterested. It really didn't matter if Jellyfish called her Katie. After all, it was her nickname. Plus, it was way better than her IceWing nickname — to everyone else in the Kingdom of Ice, she was known as 'Small fry'. ''I was not small! ''she thought and then fought down the flare of anger that burned inside her. ''That was five years ago! ''she scolded herself. ''Stop being such a scavenger! Let it go. There's a difference between today and seven million days. It doesn't matter. ''I'm the one who rose to greatness while the rest of them cowered beneath me like the pathetic seals that they are. '' Now I sound like Stonecutter when he's imitating Brumal or Robin. ''Katabatic mentally whacked herself with an invisible IceWing tail. "Some gold for your thoughts?" offered Jellyfish, wrinkling her snout as Katabatic started backward. "No thank you," she replied. "Besides, my thoughts aren't worth that much. They're dirt cheap." "Okay," said Jellyfish, then reached down and scooped up a small pile of dirt. "Here. Is this cheap enough for you?" Katabatic laughed. "Not even close. Anyways, we should get going instead of chatting about irrelevant queens." "I'm pretty sure those irrelevant queens would behead you if they heard how disrespectfully you're talking." "I wouldn't care if they heard me dissing their ugly scavenger pets," was Katabatic's reply. Jellyfish giggled. "You're right though. We should get going. Ash is going to be waiting. And she, like you, does not like waiting. She's a very impatient dragon." Jellyfish spread her wings and then leaped into the blue sky, hovering in the air as Katabatic caught up to her, and then followed after her, occasionally speeding ahead as they flew towards Ardensia, the RainWing Kingdom. "Slow — down —" puffed Jellyfish from behind Katabatic. When she twisted around to see the dark blue SeaWing, she was alarmed to see Jellyfish drooping lower and lower, towards the ground below. Katabatic sighed after recovering from her shock and then dove down to catch up with the battle scarred SeaWing. Her mismatched purple and silver eyes seemed a little more dull than usual, not at all bright like the sun on freshly fallen snow. Jellyfish flopped over onto the rocks with a sigh of relief. "Honestly Jellyfish," Katabatic shook her head. "How do you expect us to get to Ardensia if we have to rest?" "Oh, I'm sorry, Ice-face, if some dragons aren't ''SkyWing hybrids and have to rest because they don't have SkyWing blood in them. Yeesh. Chill out, okay?" Jellyfish stretched out her wings. "I'm hungry," she added. "Go fetch me some fish." "Get it yourself, penguin-feet." retorted Katabatic. "I'm not going to go get you some fish. There are these amazing inventions, you know? They're called feet. And legs. And every dragon on the face of Pyrrhia have these inventions. In fact, they have four of each. So you can go and walk yourself over to the ocean and get yourself some fish. And I couldn't even if I wanted to. I'm too busy trying to 'chill' and regain my IceWing attitude." "Sassy," Jellyfish responded. "You should try to become queen." "I can't just strut up to Queen Jaeger and be all, 'Oh, you know, I want to be queen so shove your scaly tail off' and then try to squeeze her out of her ugly throne. Plus, I'm not even a royal. How would that ''work?" Katabatic strode over to a river and dipped her claws in, washing the dirt off so they glittered in the sun like the minnows hastily trying to avoid her talons. "And even if I were a royal, I don't want to be queen. I'd have to sit around and issue orders. Or boss dragons around. That's ''so ''not in my nature." "True." Jellyfish had evidently decided that now was a good time to pretend like her claws weren't aching anymore, for she joined Katabatic at the river and skewered a couple minnows, frying them to a crisp and then pulling one off for Katabatic to eat. "Thanks," she devoured the minnow, enjoying the way it crunched between her teeth. Then she examined Jellyfish's claws. "How did you do that? It's not scientifically possible for a SeaWing to fry a minnow. Your tribe doesn't have fire, last I checked." "It's like how my name implies," Jellyfish rumbled, her voice clouded with sudden emotion that Katabatic didn't understand. "I—um... I can sting dragons... like a ''jellyfish. Shocking news, right?" Jellyfish laughed weakly. "What's wrong, Jellyfish? Don't you like being able to sting? That's sounds really... interesting. Being able to electrify people, I mean." Katabatic winced as Jellyfish's shoulders sagged. "I... was a guard," she mumbled. "I loved my job." Then why is she part of the L.S.? "Go on," Katabatic said, eager to hear the rest of the story. "Until one day... an assassin broke into the Royal Palace, attempting to kill Queen Fangtooth. I chased after him along with the rest of the Royal Guard but... he swam through a swarm of jellyfish and disappeared. I followed after him even though the rest of the guard kept telling me to give up and leave it be until he came back and then... the jellyfish stung me. So bad that I had burns across my scales." Jellyfish nodded at her dark blue scales. "I used have pale blue scales and then... this happened. Anyway, I was thrown off of the Royal Guard to 'recover' and then when I had fully healed, Fangtooth sent me here. To the L.S." An assassin. '' "I don't know what to say... Jellyfish... I'm so sorry." Katabatic's ears drooped and she opened one chilly wing for Jellyfish. "Over the years, it's gotten better. Now I can control when I... do that... and stuff..." Jellyfish still looked lost. It reminded Katabatic painfully of the desolate, hollow look that Stonecutter sometimes got. . . . Fantasy gestured to them and pointed at the archway that led to the L.S. meeting place. "Come," she said, flapping ahead of them and occasionally shooting out a burst of fire at the cave crystals. Katabatic watched with interest as she saw them light up, casting blue and purple rays of light across the cave tunnels. ''Hmm, ''she thought. ''It seems as though the crystals just... suck in the fire and hold it inside of them. I wonder if that's an animus enchantment? ''As far as she knew, the only animus during that time was Nightmare, the Lost Soul. ''Lost Souls... is that what the L.S. stands for? As if! Besides, Sirius said that it stood for Lucid Society. I wonder if ''that ''has any sentimental value. Specter would know. '' "Katie," said Fantasy and poked her wing. "What?" she snapped. It came out harsher than she meant it to. "Sorry," she said immediately. "I was... lost in thought. Yes, Fantasy?" "Oh," Fantasy looked baffled. "I was just going to stop you from crashing into a wall." "Oh, hey, Fantasy! You're second-in-command, right?" Jellyfish asked suddenly. "Yeah," Fantasy twisted around to glance back at her. "What about it? Specter has to appoint you herself, you know. It's not like she can just go to the L.S. council and hold a meeting or something to boost you up the Social Pyramid." ''The Social Pyramid? I thought it was just a list of rankings or something. "Yeah, I know. It's not about that, though." Jellyfish ran a claw down her SeaWing sail. "It's—the cave crystals," Jellyfish added in a rush, as if she were afraid someone would stop her. "Are they animus touched?" "What makes you say that?" asked Fantasy, looking just the slightest bit amused. "You just lit them up with fire. No cave crystal can light up with fire. So they must be animus touched, right? Enchanted to hold the fire to provide light, or something?" Jellyfish inquired. "Yeah, they are animus touched. They were enchanted by the first member of the L.S." Fantasy nodded towards the cave crystals that lined the cave tunnel floor. "Who was that?" Katabatic interrupted. Fantasy's wings missed a beat and she dropped. "Sorry." Katabatic apologized. "No, no, it's fine. You just startled me." Fantasy nudged Katabatic's wing with her own. "Me too," Jellyfish admitted. "You were silent for so long I kind of forgot you were with us." "Wow," Katabatic said. "I'm so honored to mean so much to you that you forgot about me in a mere couple of minutes." Katabatic swooped on ahead and then tucked her wings into a dive so she could enter the secret entrance to the L.S. "Oh, Katie! Don't be like that!" Jellyfish shouted after her. "I said I was sorry!" "That was you saying sorry?" Katabatic turned around and hovered in the air, her tail brushing the murky water below. "Funny, I don't remember hearing a certain blue SeaWing say the words, 'I'm sorry'. Go on with your fishy excuses, while I'll be chilling at headquarters." Katabatic dove into the water before Fantasy or Jellyfish could say anything. She swam through the underwater tunnel and burst out of the pond of another cave. Hanging globes were already lit and the intricate jeweled walls glittered with rainbow light. "Katie!" Sirius, a purplish-black NightWing bounded towards her, his silver teardrop scales shimmering like fish scales against his ebony black scales. "You're back! Where's Fantasy? Did you bring Jellyfish?" "Oh you know, I have an IceWing reputation to uphold. I lost them somewhere in the winding depths of the tunnels that lead somewhere else. You know, typical IceWing stuff." Katabatic gave an exaggerated toss of her head, her icicle-like horns clacking together. "Very funny," Sirius whacked her with his tail. "Where are they?" "Your crush and Jellyfish are on their way," Katabatic rolled her eyes. "I just went ahead." The NightWing's face turned pinkish-purple and Katabatic sighed. "Honestly, Sirius. Does she even know that you like her? Have you even tried?" "No!" he yelped. "But do you think I should? Then if she rejects me then it'll be really awkward trying to talk to her the next day and stuff!" "Amazing," Katabatic shook her head with mock amazement. "Excellent word choice. 'And stuff.' It's so easy to take you Sirius-ly when you say 'and stuff'. Keep it up." Sirius laughed. "Enough! I already have a cringe-worthy Hippo! I do not need another one!" "You just don't want to admit that IceWings can totally be the Pun Master of All Time." she replied. Then she turned around. And Stonecutter's dead body was hanging from the ceiling. PART 1: ROLLING DUNES AND MURDER HUES ~CHAPTER 1~ 2 years later... "You're not my sister," Stonecutter snarled, blinking back tears. Katabatic reached for him, her claws shaking. "You... you... you lied to me!" '' ''"Stonecutter," she whispered. "I would never lie to y—" '' ''"You lied to me about being a war general! You lied to me about... about settling things with the RainWing queen! You tried to kill her!" he shouted. She had lied to him. '' ''She was an assassin. '' ''She was the assassin who had tried to kill Queen Ombre. "Stonecutter—" she began to cry. "I'm sorry. It—it was to protect you..." she hiccuped. '' ''"I don't need protecting!" he roared. "I can handle myself just fine!" '' ''"Stonecutter—" she said again. '' ''Then she choked and doubled over as claw marks appeared on her wings and chest. Blood bubbled from her mouth, staining her scales and dripping onto the floor, pools of the red liquid clouding his vision as the sharp smell of iron filled his nose. '' ''"K-Katie?" he yelped and tripped over his tail trying to get away from his dying IceWing sister. '' ''"Stonecutter... I—I believe in you," she choked out, blood pooling from her mouth as she took his talons in hers, spilling her blood on him. "Don't make the same mistake I did..." '' ''"K-Katie..." he stammered again, feeling his anger evaporate as grief and fear took over. "K-Katie! Don't g-go!" Stonecutter held her talons closer to him. "Please," he whispered as fat, salty tears began to gather and fall. '' ''"I'm sorry," she murmured, her voice breaking off and then starting to die as she began to take her last breath. "I wish... I was a better sister..." '' ''Her eyes closed and her breathing stopped. Stonecutter sobbed, collapsing over his dead sister's body, the crimson slashes so deep that he could see the white bone, now covered in blood. A shadow loomed over him and when he looked up, he saw large, acid green eyes. A sharp-toothed mouth dripping with black and red blood, a grin so wide it would put Hippo's to shame. And it hissed one throaty scream that reverberated in his head, pain flaring across his mind like hot wax being poured through his ears. '' ''"BEWAAARE," it screamed. "THE LOSSST SSSOUL..." And then he woke up. Stonecutter lay on his hammock hastily wiping off his tears. Pale green and pink light filtered through the giant leaves and flower petals that had been tied against the windows. Katie hadn't come back yet. She said she wouldn't be gone for long. Had she lied to him? And what was my dream about? he wondered uneasily. There it was again —'' that horrible, gut-wrenching feeling. It was ''wrong. It felt wrong. She shouldn't have been gone for too long. He was precognitive —'' all NightWings were ''— but his visions were never this.... vivid. The thought unnerved him. With Katie gone, there was almost no one to talk to. That was the worst part about his sister — s''he wouldn't even tell him where she went! Now he felt even worse. Stonecutter tried to hop down neatly from his black vine hammock, but instead, got tangled up in his wool blanket. After flailing around foolishly for a couple of minutes, he crashed onto the floor. "Ow," he groaned out loud. He checked his snout and his claws came back, perfectly fine, not dripping blood all over the place. Then Stonecutter could here it — the sound of sharp claws scraping against stone. "Stonecutter!" a female voice shouted and suddenly, glittering wings swept him up into a chilly hug. "I was so—''I mean''—''ugh!" "Katie? You're back!" Stonecutter's words came out muffled and Katie hugged him even harder. "I was so worried!" she cried. "Worried?" he inquired when she'd pulled back. "Worried about what? I was really worried! I had a prophe''—''" "I—I saw... your''—''um''—''dead body," she said. But I'm right here! ''"It wasn't you though—''just another NightWing named Riddlesolver. She's the Seeker. Opulence tried to kill her. Luckily she was only unconscious." "Did... was she killed?" When Katie looked confused, he added, "Opulence, I mean." "Oh, yeah," Katie nodded. "Sirius took care of it. Just... killed her and put her essence''—''her soul into a glass orb and then put it in the NightWing shelf." "Oh. Listen, Katie, I need to talk to y''—''" he began. "Sorry Stonecutter," Katie interrupted. "I have a meeting with Austere, Cipher, Ash, Scorpion, Bubbledreamer, and Glow. Maybe later." Stonecutter scratched his head with one claw. He needed to talk to her! Maybe she'd know what the Lost Soul was! "Oh, and by the way," she added as she grabbed a couple scrolls and threw them into her messenger bag, "Moondust and Fantasy are going to be looking after you." "But—" he tried again. She wrinkled her nose as she reached for some quills, "Well, really, Fantasy's going to be watching over both you and Moondust." "Katie!" a NightWing stuck her head in. Her scales were black, but in the light, they glittered with cyan blue sparks —'' like his ''— with silver flame patterns on her forearms. Instead of the stiff NightWing spines, she had a webbed sail of a SeaWing. Her eyes were beautiful — purplish-gold, like a sunrise. "Bubbledreamer and Glow bailed on us. The meeting's cancelled." "What? Why?" Katie lashed her tail, clearly irritated. The NightWing squinted at Stonecutter. "Can we talk... somewhere more... private?" inquired the black dragon. "Stonecutter can stay," Katie nodded at him. "I haven't seen him in a week — I'm not leaving him. Especially not since the Opulence dilemma. Besides, he won't know what we're talking about. Right, Stonecutter?" Stonecutter twisted his claws together. "Yeah, I won't know. She hasn't told me anything." The NightWing sighed. "Just — apparently, someone took her orb. Euphoria was freaking out about it, so Bubbledreamer and Glow left to fix the problem." "Okay. We'll talk about this later. Thanks for telling me, Eventide." Katie waved to the NightWing as she sauntered out the door. Then his IceWing sister turned to him. "So," she said, her voice more stern and serious than he'd ever heard, "tell me everything." And so he did. He told her all about his dream and told her about the strange warning that the mysterious creature had told him. "Beware the Lost Soul?" she asked. "Hmm... Stonecutter... I think it's time you knew." ''Knew? Knew what? What is she going to tell me? Is it bad? '' "Am I in trouble?" he asked her. She shook her head. "No. But dreams like yours... I'm going to have to take you with me." ''Take me with you? Where? Where are we going? ''"Specter—no. Moondust will know." ''Moondust? 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